


End Game

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-04-03
Updated: 2002-04-03
Packaged: 2019-05-15 15:01:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A little on the melodramatic side for me... but what the heck. And this sort of goes back to the angst ridden J/D inNight Fiverather than the back-to-their-old-selves-with-no-explanation J/D we've seen in HL and DIW.





	End Game

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**End Game**

**by:** Dee 

**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Rating: ADULT**  
**Notes:** A little on the melodramatic side for me... but what the heck. And this sort of goes back to the angst ridden J/D in Night Five rather than the back-to-their-old–selves-with-no-explanation J/D we've seen in HL and DIW.   


Donna stopped when she heard the car turn the corner slowly. This was the second time it had followed her around a corner, but it remained far enough back so that she couldn't quite make out the style of the car this late at night. 

She peeked over her shoulder and saw the headlights stopped about a block down the street and felt a shudder run down her spine. Someone was following her. 

It was common knowledge in the city that the safest place to go if you were in trouble was the Metro. It was eleven thirty so she still had enough time to make the station before it closed. There would be a guard at the kiosk that she could appeal to for help. Walking slowly to see if the car would start to inch down the street, she struggled not to turn around. When she heard the slight hitch of the engine, she knew that the car was moving again and it prompted her into an all out run. 

Which should have been fine. She wasn't that far from the entrance to the Metro and she used to be very fast in high school. Her coach always said it was her long legs. It's just that she never tried to do the fifty-yard dash in heels. 

She toppled over and went sprawling to the sidewalk. She heard the car pull up next to her and turned over desperate to get back on her feet and running again. Her winter coat tangled around her legs and the adrenaline pumping through her system made it difficult to move. She felt caught in one of those horrible dreams where she needed to scream but couldn't. 

Then she heard the thud of a car door closing and increased her struggles finally managing to gain her feet so that at least she could confront her attacker on two legs rather than sprawled out on her ass. 

She turned around and found herself confronted by ... Josh? 

"Josh! What the hell were you doing?" 

He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared away from her. "I didn't mean to make you run. Are you okay?" 

Donna sized up her injuries. "I scraped my hands and ruined my stockings. Which you now owe me pair. DKNY." 

"Those were DKNY?" 

"Kmart. But I'm including the pain and suffering of my scraped hands. What were you doing following me? Oh my god, you're not turning into some kind of sicko stalker on me are you, because really Josh I've got to say that's not a good thing for the Deputy Chief of... 

"I'm not stalking you." 

"But you were following me." 

"I... I wanted to see... I ...Get in the car. I'll take you home and explain." 

Donna moved toward the car and got in, a hundred questions going through her mind. What worried her more was the expression on his face. She couldn't remember a time when she had seen him so grim. At least not a time she wanted to remember. "What is it?" 

"We had a leak. The Ritche camp found out about the information we had on Summers..." 

"One of VP possibilities." 

"Yeah. Obviously, we wanted to keep it as far under wraps as possible in the hopes that Ritchie would pick him and then we could use the information against them in the campaign. All this assuming Ritchie's vetting process wasn't as good as ours. But they hadn't found it yet..." 

"I don't understand. What does that have to do with you following me?" 

"There were four people in my office when CJ told us the news. Me, Toby, CJ and ..." 

"Oh my god." She felt as if some one had just sucker punched her in the gut knocking all the air from her lungs. Her mind couldn't wrap around what he was accusing her of. Four years, four years they'd been together and he thought... "You think I'm the leak. I mean seriously – me?" 

"It's just not possible that Toby or CJ said anything.... Banner practically thanked me. Her people had definitely missed it. Now, Summers is off the short list." 

"Wait a minute," Donna stopped him. "That still doesn't explain why you wouldn't have asked me outright. Why are you following me? Why are you following me, Josh?" The worst part about a question like that is that there was never going to be a good answer. 

Josh said nothing. He couldn't make the words form now that he realized how ridiculous he'd been. It's just that when Banner called he'd been so mad. 

"Stop the car." 

"What?" 

"Stop the car," Donna insisted. "Now. I'm getting out." 

"It's starting to rain, Donna. I'll take you home..." 

"Stop the car now!" 

It was the first time he'd ever heard her shout. He eased over to an open spot on the street. 

"Donna..." 

"Shut up! Just shut up! You were following me not because you think I accidentally said something and someone heard it. You were following me because you think I told him." 

"You're still dating him!" Josh returned. "How could I not think..." 

"That I'm a traitor? That I would knowingly turn over information to my boyfriend that would hurt you, the President, his campaign? I don't know Josh. I would have thought four years of dedicated work, four years of loyalty, four years of... oh my god! I can't believe you would think... I can't..." she reached for the door handle of the car, but Josh engaged the locks. 

"I know. It was stupid. I was just so damn mad. And then you said you had to leave early..." 

"It was eleven. I was joking!" 

"Oh. I thought you were going to see him. I just wanted to see if you were." 

"What were you going to do? Take pictures? Maybe catch me handing over the election strategy playbook. God, Josh." 

"I wasn't thinking." 

"No, you weren't. Let me out." 

"Donna..." 

"No. It's over. This... I can't do this. Not anymore. You are my life. My whole damn life. When I think of what I gave up... not anymore. Let me out." 

Josh struggled to think of something to say. 

"You know what's funny about this, Josh. What's really funny is that you know I would never do anything like that. You of all people know what lengths I would go to protect... all of you." She shook her head. "I stopped seeing Cliff months ago. Not that it is any of your goddamn business. Now unlock my door." 

"Donna lets just..." 

"No. No. I'm not listening. You have been snarky, and irritable, and whatever for I don't know how long. I thought it was because I lied. But it wasn't. It was him. I thought when you started seeing Amy that would change. But it didn't. You still think I betrayed you and I'm tired of explaining myself." 

"He was the lead council for the Republicans on Judiciary, Donna! How could I not see that as a betrayal?" 

"Not when I met him," she shouted. 

"No, just when you slept with him!" 

Donna took a deep breath and tried to control the rage she felt inside mingled with her sense of loss. "He liked me. That's all I was guilty of Josh. Being happy because someone liked me and not stopping long enough to think about the consequences. But like I said it's over. I had to make a choice... obviously I made the wrong one. Now for the last time, let me out of the fucking car." 

This time he relented and hit the lock button. Immediately she opened the door and got out. Josh watched her walk away and the feeling that was building inside him was enough to kill him. He bolted out of the car and chased after her. 

"Donna, just listen to me!" he shouted to her. 

"No," she shouted back even while she continued to walk. The rain was falling harder, and the cold drops were seeping through her coat, but she didn't feel it. She didn't feel anything. "I'm done listening. I'm done with you." 

"You don't know what you're saying," he said grabbing her arm, forcing her to turn and face him. "I'm your boss... your job..." 

"I'll get another one. I could have had another one, but no. Not me. Not Donna trueheart. Always loyal until the bitter end. Well, this is the end." 

"It can't be the end. I won't let it be." 

"Tough." 

"Donna..." 

"No," she said this time unable to stop the tears that the fell down her cheeks. She could only hope he mistook them for the rain. "I did this with him. Freeride. I stayed too long and watched him push me away. Then I left, but because it wasn't on his terms he begged me to come back... made me believe.... but I learned, Josh. I'm not stupid. This moment... right here... this is you stopping to get a beer on the way to the hospital. Guess you're not better than my ex-boyfriend after all. I won't be in to work tomorrow. You'll receive my resignation in the mail." 

She turned and this time he let her go knowing what she meant, knowing that she was going to leave and not look back. 

He watched her walk away and his heart skipped when she turned, thinking that maybe she couldn't do it. Maybe she couldn't leave him. 

"By the way... there were five people in the room that day. The four of us and the person you were on the phone with." 

With that she turned again and continued walking. She found the escalator leading down to the Metro station and was quickly out of sight. 

He stood in the rain for what felt like hours. He felt each drop hit him individually like a tiny icy knife biting into his skin. 

What had he done? 

It was seeing him that had done it. She didn't even know. Why would she if she hadn't seen him in months? Calley had been picked up by Ritchie and was now on his campaign team. He caught a glimpse of him in the background at one of Ritchie's press conferences and he'd seen red. He'd felt as if she had shot him in the gut because the pain was pretty similar. He knew she'd dated him after the whole diary fiasco, knew that his defense of Leo had somehow weakened her defenses against him. He'd just assumed they were still dating. So when he saw Calley on Ritchie's team... and then the leak. It wasn't the most unreasonable conclusion to jump to. 

Except it was Donna. 

And he should have known. And now he lost her. 

There were five people in the room... the phone. He ran her words back and tried to think of what she meant. CJ had come in to his office, Toby was in the chair, Donna was behind him doing something on his computer and ... he'd been on the phone. 

With Amy. 

He thought he put his hand over the receiver, but maybe not. Maybe when CJ had told him the phone had been uncovered. Maybe she had heard. But why would Amy leak anything to the Republicans? 

It didn't make sense. Donna must be wrong, unless... 

Then it came to him. Like a chess game when you saw the end game strategy on the board hidden amongst the pawns. 

Politics was nothing more than a real life game played by adults and Amy played it better than anyone. 

Josh made his way back to his car and got in not caring that this now drenched suit would ruin his leather seats. 

It was time to end this particular game. 

He pushed the doorbell and leaned on it so that it would ring incessantly. He hoped it was annoying her. 

She opened the door of her Georgetown townhouse, but was careful not to pull the door back the whole way. 

"Josh? What are you doing here?" 

"Hi Amy." 

"Hello." 

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" 

"J it's after twelve. I've got an early..." 

He pushed on the door with enough force to send her stumbling back and made his way into her home. 

"Congressman Tandy," Josh greeted the man on her sofa, who had his feet up and was currently indulging in a brandy in front of the fire. Brandy was for wimps. "Can I just say this isn't a surprise?" 

"Josh," Amy began. "Listen, we never said..." 

"Stuff it," he said facing her. He looked at her bland expressionless face and shook his head. What the hell had he been thinking? No, that's not fair. He knew what he'd been thinking. 

Are you dating your assistant? 

She had asked him that. No, he said. He wasn't. She was his assistant, that's all. What he did had an impact on the President, blah, blah, blah. But the real reason is because she was dating someone else. She fell for someone who wasn't him and he had to accept it and move on. 

Which led him to Amy. Brilliant, witty, bitchy Amy. 

"You heard about Summers." 

"Who?" 

Josh nodded and leaned over the couch grabbing Tandy's drink out of his hand to take a slug. It sucked. He hated brandy. "You heard over the phone about Summers. You know that Tandy is running for the Senate seat in his state against the incumbent ...wait for it... Summers. Tandy, being the political fuckwit that he is, thinks he can get Summers to drop out of the race and clear the way for him, not realizing that he was sounding the silent alarm in the Republican camp. And we lost our edge." 

Tandy stood. "But I get the seat." 

"You think? Going to be hard to do that without any DNC funding or a Presidential endorsement." 

Amy's face hardened. "You wouldn't." 

"Wouldn't I?" Josh asked innocently. He started for the door and she grabbed him about the arm. "Josh, you can't do this." 

"Just tell me this, was I just part of this game? No, I couldn't have been. I had no idea we were going to get anything on Summers. So what was your point in dating me? Or maybe there was no point. Maybe you just went back to Tandy because being the wife of a Senator is more influential than being the lowly wife of a Deputy Chief of Staff." 

"Right," she smirked. "Like you were ever going to marry me." 

"Yeah, you are right about that. I wasn't. Good night, Amy. Good luck." 

"It was never love, J. Just a good time in bed." 

Josh stopped at the door and turned back to her. "It wasn't that good of a time in bed." 

He closed the door behind him and didn't look back. He was amazed to find that all he felt was relief. 

So now he had his answers, but they were of little comfort to him. 

Donna was gone. But she wouldn't be gone for long. He would get her back. He knew he could do it. He just had to be honest. Which was pretty much going to screw things up anyway, but he would rather have a screwed up situation with Donna, then a screwed up situation without her. 

"Go away." 

Josh hit the intercom again. "Donna, we have to talk." 

"I'm not talking to you Josh. I mean it. If you don't leave, I'm calling the police." 

Josh pulled his cell phone out. "You're not going to call the police, Donna. We both know it, now let me in." 

"You don't think I'm going to call the police? I'm doing it right now, Josh. Right this minute, I'm calling the police. And then when I'm done, I'm calling the Post and every other paper in the city to tell them that the Deputy Chief of Staff's ass is sitting in jail. Here I go. 911. Hello, operator, I would like to report an intruder..." 

Josh hit a speed dial button on his phone and listened to the sound of her phone ringing in the background. 

"Shit," she grumbled then hit the buzzer in defeat. 

She waited at the door of her apartment determined not to let him inside. Her arms were crossed over her chest in defiance, but she knew the impact of that defiance was muted by her red eyes and blotchy face. It was the curse of having alabaster skin. Crying jags left their mark. 

He walked up the steps and stood in front of her and waited. She didn't move. He didn't talk. 

It only took her two minutes to crumble. But only because she needed another tissue. "Fine," she muttered walking back into her apartment with him at her heels. 

She snatched up a tissue and dabbed her nose then marched to her kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of her fridge. She didn't offer him anything. 

"Say whatever you want Josh, it's not going to make a difference." 

"I'm in love with you." 

He watched her face. Felt the impact of his words in her expression. Shock. Astonishment. Disbelief. She dropped the water. 

He knew on the drive over here that it was the only way. He knew that he couldn't tease his way back into her life, as he'd so often done, or cajole, or whine, or beg. He knew that she absolutely meant what she said about leaving him. He knew she had the power to do it. Which is why he knew that the only way to fix this was to tell her why it had gotten all screwed up to begin with. 

He was in love with her. He was pretty sure he had been from the beginning. He remembered when she left that first time. It had felt like a part of him had been cut out, but he attributed the feeling to a chest cold. He'd only known her for weeks. A man couldn't connect with someone in weeks. But he had. So much so that when she came back, bruised and battered, he'd had the feeling that his life was just about to start. He attributed that to the excitement of the campaign. 

He attributed his desire to the fact that she was young and beautiful. After all, who wouldn't want her? 

He attributed his need to have her around constantly after the shooting to his isolation. 

He attributed the fact that she was the one he wanted to talk to about... anything... because she was a good listener. 

He attributed his hurt and anger when she told him about Cliff to the fact that he was a Republican. 

There was always a reason. Some excuse that he could cling to that allowed him to think he hadn't fallen in love with his assistant. 

But he had. 

"You gonna say anything?" 

She stood motionless in her galley kitchen and tried to fathom what he was doing. She knew Josh. He was a strategist. He planned and plotted and poked and prodded always searching for the right angle, the right attack with which to disable an opponent. 

He'd found a doozy this time. But she couldn't believe him. She wouldn't let herself believe him. 

"Okay." 

"Okay? That's all you have to say." 

"Don't. We both know this is some plan to make things better, but how you think that this might help..." 

"This isn't a plan. This isn't a game. I'm in love with you. I have been for... God Donna years... I don't know." He walked to her and stood a breath away. "And you know what?" 

"What?" 

"You're in love with me too." 

"I am?" 

"Yes." 

"And you know this because..." 

"Because I heard you crying when I was in the hospital. Because you held my hand the whole time I was getting stitches that Christmas. Because you lied about a stupid diary. Because it didn't work with Calley. Because you didn't take the job. Should I go on?" 

No, he'd pretty much covered it. Not that it was going to do them any good. "Josh, what do you think this going to accomplish." 

"I don't know," he said wearily. "I just know that I'm tired. Calley's working for Ritchie. I saw him on a press conference and I lost it. It still hurt, just to see him. And I realized it had nothing to do with his political affiliation. It's because I thought you were still with him and I hated that. I hated you being with him. Then when I heard about the leak, I thought good. Now I can yell and shout and hit him. Because I really want to hit him." 

"He boxed in college." 

"Okay, so there would be more yelling than hitting." 

Donna smiled sadly and shook her head. "All you had to do was say something." 

"I couldn't. I'd spent so long denying it. We had both spent so long pretending we were just us and not anything else that to break the unwritten code... I thought it might break us. But I did that. I did that tonight, and now the only thing I can think of to tell you is the truth." 

"What happens now?" 

"First you tell me that you know I didn't really think you had leaked the information and that I was instead just being a jealous jerk." 

"You were a jerk." 

He considered that and nodded. "Then we do this..." He leaned in and kissed her lips gently, then pulled back to see her reaction. 

"You kissed me," she announced. 

"Uh huh." He kissed her again, this time cupping her face in his hands and tilting her head so their lips met at the perfect angle. Her lips were soft gentle and he could feel them tremble ever so slightly under his. 

He had never kissed another woman. That's what it felt like. Like this time would be the first time. Like his life was starting all over again. 

He released her and gazed down at her chest, which was heaving underneath the cotton tank top she wore. Her nipples were already puckered tight and without thinking he slipped a strap off her shoulder revealing her left breast and bent his head down to suckle her into his mouth. 

It should have been strange, but this was Donna. 

"Now you're kissing my breast," she stated breathlessly. 

He lifted his head. "Actually, I was sucking your nipple into my mouth. I'm planning on nibbling. Do you like nibbling?" 

"I like nibbling." 

"Good." He bent his head again. 

"Wait! Josh. Do you have any idea what you're thinking, what you're doing, ...." 

He met her eyes and smirked. "I have a pretty good idea what happens from here." 

"I mean after this." 

"No, that I don't know. But I know an hour ago there was no after this because you were leaving. Now tell me you're not leaving." 

She lowered her head and saw her breast damp from his mouth. She met his eyes and cupped his precious dimpled face in her hands and thought that she might as well give him one more try. "I'm not leaving." 

He took her hand and led her to the bedroom. His clothes were difficult to get off because they were still wet from the rain, but she helped him with his tie, with the buttons on his shirt. She sat him down on the bed and removed his shoes and socks. He dropped his pants and his boxers and laid back on the bed, wonderfully naked, fully aroused, and all hers. 

She closed her eyes and shook herself thinking it had to be a dream. She thought about all the times she imagined him just this way. Then she thought about all the times she told herself she felt nothing romantically for him. The way she had ruthlessly crushed any and all feelings of love and desire because she wouldn't be that woman. A woman who fell for her boss even though he never saw her there. 

But Josh had seen her. She hadn't been wrong. What they had was special. She wanted to think it, but before she couldn't allow herself the luxury. Now she could. 

"We're special," she told him lifting her top off, dropping the matching cotton pants on the floor. She crawled naked on to the bed and sank against him running her hand down his scarred chest over his belly to the proof of his desire. 

She heard him suck in his breath. She turned her head to place an open mouth kissed on his chest, even while she stroked his cock, tightening her hand with each stroke until she felt his hips lifting off the bed. 

"We are special," he murmured closing his eyes, then opening them again so he could see her and know that this was Donna. Not some tall thin woman with long hair that he closed his eyes and pretended was Donna. 

He cupped her breasts with both hands and kneaded them. She lifted herself and straddled his body and sat on his belly. His erection pressed between the cheeks of her ass, and he could feel her arousal dampening his stomach. 

He sat up and moved her so that her legs were wrapped around his waist, her arms about his neck. Their mouths met and their tongues thrust against each other. They picked up a rhythm instantly, which didn't surprise him. 

Nothing about this surprised him. Nothing felt shocking or out of place. It was as if they had been lovers for years. She ran her hand down his back and found the spot of the base of his spine that he loved to have stroked. 

He kissed that spot under her ear that had her catching her breath. 

"Now," he whispered. "I need to be inside you." 

She lifted her hips and used her hands to position him. In one deep fluid stroke he was inside her. 

Together they sighed. Their foreheads touched and their eyes met. Their position didn't allow for a lot of movement, but they didn't need it. This coming together wasn't so much about frantic sex as it was about needing to be connected. Needing to be one. 

"You're inside me," she sighed. "All the way." 

"All the way," he muttered wondering where he stopped and she began. "It's okay, right? We don't need..." 

"No. I'm fine. But Josh?" 

"Yeah?" 

"If one of us doesn't move soon, I'm going to explode." 

That could be fun. The two of them staying this way until just the sensation of being connected compelled them to orgasm. 

"Now tell me you want me," he ordered. 

"I want you," she surrendered and was happy to do it. 

Josh lifted her hips and pulled her off him. The sense of loss was tremendous, but made bearable by the knowledge that he would be inside her again soon. He turned her over so that she lay on the bed on her belly. 

His tongue trailed a path down her spine, and he loved the graceful way her body arched under his touch. He was relentless with it. The back of her knees, her neck, her ass, her calves. Everything was his to explore, his to enjoy. He moved between her legs and rested his weight on his knees; then he pulled her up by the waist until her body was flush against his, her back to his chest, her knees straddling his. He cupped one hand over her breast; the other hand cupped her damp blonde curls. 

With a slight movement, he lifted her and sank her onto his cock again. This time the feel of sliding into her tight wet heat was enough to undo him. He wanted to pound into her. Needed to take her. Have her. 

"Donna, I have to..." 

"I know. I want..." She leaned forward and grabbed the bed frame behind the pillows 

Still with one hand against her sex, his finger between the wet folds, he started to move his hips and thrust into her welcoming body. He would never be deep enough. He knew that as he struggled to go higher and further into her. He leaned over her back with his free hand between hers on the bed frame, his other giving her the friction she needed between her legs. 

"Oh god," she cried listening to the slap of his body against her ass cheeks, feeling the thrust of his sex which followed the sound. It was heaven. 

It was Josh. 

His finger hit the perfect spot and she tumbled over the edge. She came so hard she was afraid she might faint and she clamped her inner walls around him so tightly that he couldn't move inside her for a moment. But it didn't matter because with his last thrust he was coming too and she felt his come splash against her womb. It was bliss. 

It was Josh. 

Together they fell to the bed. He spooned her and she held tight to the arms that wrapped around her while she cried. 

"Shhh, shh," he crooned. "It's going to be okay." He stroked her hair while he said it. 

"I know," she gulped. "I'm crying because I'm happy." 

"I know. I am too. Now, Donna there is one last thing you have to tell me..." 

"What?" 

"That I am in fact better than your ex-boyfriend." 

"Yes, Josh. You are. You absolutely are." 

The End. 


End file.
